


Starlight

by paperclipbutterfly



Series: Non-Canon Black Jack One-Shots [3]
Category: Black Jack Original Comics, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, F/M, Fluff, I think I have a thing for birthdays, Just a little Jack Savage in this one, Light Angst, but these two are also adorable and fun to write, call it a hunch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 02:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13893978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperclipbutterfly/pseuds/paperclipbutterfly
Summary: It's Stella Rogers' birthday, but only one other mammal is aware of this fact, and it happens to be one that irritates her more than any other: Zac Goldenwheat, Jack Savage's assistant. What does the tabby cat have in mind on this particular day?





	Starlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aoimotion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aoimotion/gifts).



> March 4th is apparently the birthday of Stella Rogers, office assistant to Cynthia Walker. Have another birthday drabble, because apparently I can't stop writing them.
> 
> Zac Goldenwheat and Stella Rogers are OCs of aoimotion, and I have her permission to write them in this little one-shot.
> 
> Enjoy!

“It means ‘star.’ Did you know that, Chief?”

Jack Savage looked over at his assistant, Zac Goldenwheat, musing at the question that he just posed. “Excuse me?”

“Stella’s name. It means ‘star.’” Zac let out a contented sigh, his eyes not turned toward his boss but gazing with more than a little longing in the direction of one Stella Rogers, his ferret coworker and current object of his affection. She was unaware that she was being observed from the other side of the bookcases, working diligently at her normal duties which, at the moment, included returning a stack of old archive folders back to the filing cabinet from whence they came.

“Oh.” Jack closed the dossier he was just in the middle of perusing and drummed his fingers impatiently against its cover. Engaging in this kind of conversation with his associate was typically a sound way to ensure no work would be accomplished for the rest of the day, but curiosity had tugged at his neurons just a bit too hard. “I did know that, but I think the real question I have is: why do _you_ know that?”

“A mammal should know everything there is to know about his soulmate, don’t you think?” Zac turned to his boss with a smile half melted with lovey dopiness. “I should have guessed that it would mean something like that. How like a star, my Stella… a dazzling, shining light in the darkness.” He turned back to watching her move about the filing cabinets and gave a little breathy purr. “It’s such a perfect name for her.”

“Hmm.” Jack gave a non-committal hum in response before returning to the file he was holding. “Not to discount anything that you just said, but need I remind you that we are actually here to do a specific bit of research this afternoon?”

“Yeah, Chief, yeah, I know, I’ll take care of it,” Zac said, and waved his paw at Jack dismissively. “I just… I have something I need to do first.”

“And what might that be, pray tell?”

“Ah, that’s for Stella’s ears only.” Zac gave Jack a mischievous wink. “You understand, I’m sure.”

Jack certainly _didn’t_ understand, but nevertheless his curiosity had kicked into high gear. “I really am loathe to indulge you in this fool’s errand you seem so set upon, Zac. You know it can only end in disaster.”

“Oh, ye of little faith!” Zac gave his paw a lick, smoothed out the fur atop his head, and drew himself up straight as an arrow. “Be right back, Chief.”

Jack watched the tabby cat swagger around the shelf confidently and sighed before putting the dossier down again to watch after him. He was such a promising apprentice; it seemed a shame that he should throw his life away so needlessly. The least Jack could do now was bear witness to his untimely passing.

Zac came up behind Stella and leaned casually against the filing cabinet drawers that were still closed beside her. “A very good afternoon to you, Miss Stella.”

Stella jerked her head up at first in surprise, twitched her nose in annoyance seeing who it was that had startled her, and then turned her back to him. Her body language was clear to Jack, though Zac seemed undeterred by the dismissal that he’d just received. “Can I just say that you look even more brilliant today than usual?”

“What do you want, Zac?” Stella’s words were crisp and clipped, with particular emphasis on the consonants.

“‘Want?’” He pretended to look slighted. “Surely I shouldn’t have to want something from you to enjoy your company for the short bit of time I’m lucky enough to be in your presence.”

Stella gave a harsh bark of a laugh and closed the cabinet that she was just using roughly. “You don’t have anything better to do than distract me from my work?”

“Bringing you distraction from your work is only an added benefit to what I was hoping to discuss, actually.” Zac waggled his eyebrows at her and she drew herself back. What in the world was he on about?

“Would you please plainly state your business so I can finish what I’m doing?” she said with exasperation, crossing her arms.

“Well, I can’t say it’s really ‘business.’ This is more… my pleasure.” He smiled then such a wide, disarming smile that Stella was at the same time shocked and, to her chagrin, intrigued by it. Her hackles went up immediately and her lips turned down into a scowl.

“We’re done here, I think,” she said curtly as she turned, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she did so (it was a long bob today, her hair, layered and angled to frame her pretty petite face just so). Zac pushed off from the cabinet and zipped around in front of her gracefully before she could jet off.

“Wait, wait… hold on just a second,” he said and held up his paws imploringly. “It’s a secret, Miss Stella, and I very much wanted to share it with you. I think it’s something you’ll like.”

She shot him a look so poisonous it probably could have killed a bull elephant, then yanked open the cabinet that he was standing in front of. He leapt out of the way before he got nicked by it. “I can’t imagine you know anything of the sort.”

“Well, I’ll tell you anyway and then you can be the judge,” he said, again flashing her another winning smile as she huffed and want back to her work. He leaned over behind her just beside her ear and whispered in a voice so soft and smooth that it might have been made of silk.

“Happy birthday.”

Stella drew such a sharp breath it felt like she just inhaled broken glass. She whirled on the cat still standing behind her. “Wh-what did you say to me?”

“I said, ‘Happy b—”

“Don’t you _dare_ say it again!” Her body shook and behind her eyes a supernova exploded into a fiery cataclysm that had the power to take out planets and moons and solar systems; a tabby cat surely wouldn’t stand a chance against that.

(Jack Savage shook his head, took the file beneath his arm, and turned to head out the door, taking note of the time for when the coroner arrived later. _It was nice knowing him._ )

Zac seemed unaware of the danger that was hurtling across time and space to obliterate him down to the atomic level. He still wore that stupid wide _knowing_ grin on his face. Knowing, knowing, knew a thing that he shouldn’t know, a closely guarded secret Stella held only with Mammal Resources, what right did _he_ have to know that?

“How do you… why do you…?” she stammered, the inferno razing over her brain and overheating the place that language usually dwelled.

“I found something I wanted to give you, and I needed a good occasion to give it to you.”

Still that goofy face, far too playful to be smug. Her temper flared hotter than plasma and in an instant she had her paw gripped about his collar. She dragged him back between two of the filing cabinets for some additional privacy, pulled him down to her, and hissed at him with words steeped in ire.

“How in _God’s name_ did you know today was my birthday?”

Something almost approaching alarm flickered across his eyes, but he recovered quickly. “Public record? Finding a birthdate isn’t that hard, actually…”

She narrowed her eyes at him and released his collar. “Fine, _clever cat_. Then _why_ did you want to know it?”

“I told you that. I have a gift I want to give you.”

Stella snorted. “I don’t want it.”

He frowned, albeit ever so slightly. “You don’t even know what it is yet.”

“I don’t want it, Zac!” she exclaimed, “I don’t want you knowing my birthday, I don’t want gifts, or cake, or anyone making a fuss! I don’t want it! So why…” The supernova started running out, collapsing now in on itself, sucking light and space and time into a gaping black hole. Her voice broke into dust in its pull, getting dragged thin into the void. “Why do you want to?”

He shifted his feet, now considering for the first time that maybe his boss was right and he’d created a cosmic disaster, not so much for himself but for Stella. That had certainly not been his intention at all and now it was too late to take it back.

“Because…” He took a deep breath and scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. “Because today is the day that a star was born. In my opinion, the most beautiful star. And it was something I wanted to honor… in some small way.”

Zac reached his paw deep into his pocket and drew it back out clenching a dangling charm, the kind of bauble that you might hang on a rearview mirror or attach to a keychain. A star carved into a crystal prism caught the dim light around them, intensified it, turned it to glittering faerie lights and threw them dancing against the drab filing cabinet walls around them.

“I saw this and I thought of you.” He took her paw and pressed the tiny little trinket into it. She stared at the gemstone star, and then the metal tag that was attached to one of its arms, a little quote stamped in pretty script upon it:

_Stella: Like the brightest star, you shine._

There was silence for so long that Zac started to worry, but Stella recovered her voice. “It’s… pretty,” she allowed, and clasped her little fist around it before the light made her eyes water any more (surely that was the reason they were tearing up, surely). “Seems a bit… impractical. What use would I have for such a thing?”

Zac’s face fell and he backed up from her with ears full flat against his head. “Ah, well… sometimes pretty things are just meant to be… pretty.” He gave a short laugh to hide his gloom behind. “I know they usually make me smile so I thought… something pretty might make you smile, too?”

God, the silence emanating from her was deafening, booming, resounding. He cringed, shrinking back now, preparing to flee. He should have listened to Mr. Savage; this was the worst mistake he could have ever made, he blew it, how could he be so…

“I’m sure I’ll find a use for it.”

Zac’s ears perked straight up, hope injected into his heart like a shot of adrenaline, and his face broke again into a huge grin. “You like it?”

“I didn’t say that, did I?” Stella’s face was carefully blank, but just there at the corners of her mouth, just for an instant Zac was certain he caught a glimpse, however brief… of a smile. “I said I’ll figure out something to do with it.”

“Well… I’ll take that, also.” He gave a gentlemammal’s bow. “I hope you have a wonderful rest of your birthday, Miss Stella.”

“Thank you, Zac.”

He backed out from between the filing cabinets lightheaded, mind reeling with elation. He was just about to leave when…

“Oh, and Zac?”

He spun back so fast he almost fell over from the dizziness. “Yes?”

Stella was back to her original task again, rifling through files and returning the ones that she still had left to their proper places. “If you breathe a word of this to anyone I will literally rip off your tail and wear it as a boa. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

He grinned again, a big dopey lovesick grin. _Ah, my Stella… what a kidder._ “Clear as starlight.”

***** 

Somehow Zac made it back to the office, although the return journey was a blur that he couldn’t remember actually completing, his mind was on autopilot. He opened the door and half stumbled inside in a fog of sheer delight.

Jack looked up from his computer at the sound of Zac’s return. “Oh good, you’re alive,” he said as the cat gracelessly plopped into one of the chairs with a cheerful sigh. “I was quite convinced I’d have to find myself a new assistant.”

Zac didn’t respond, but just put his head back, beaming at the ceiling. His face was starting to hurt from all the grinning, but he just couldn’t stop. Nothing could make this feeling stop. He’d feel this amazing forever and ever and…

“You do have the records I asked for, right?”

Dread. Terror. Panic. _Oh, shi…_


End file.
